As snow squalls hit Mercer County, more than 3,000 customers remain without power

MERCER COUNTY -- More than 3,000 Mercer County customers remain without power today as a powerful nor'easter packing strong winds brought snow to the region this afternoon.

Ralph LaRossa, president of Public Service Electric and Gas, which serves nearly 150,000 customers in Mercer County, said the utility has made temporary repairs in some areas that could be vulnerable to damage from the storm.

“We are monitoring winter storms,” LaRossa said. “I’m just glad to see that it is not ice. Ice is the biggest problem that utilities have. That is where you have damages that become more severe.”

LaRossa said the company will continue to work through the weather and will bring in extra crews from West Virginia and Massachusetts to restore power to all customers.

“No one is leaving until we get the system back to 100 percent,” LaRossa said.

The company’s most recent estimates show that all customers in Hamilton, Hopewell, Lawrence, Pennington, Princeton Township, Robbinsville and West Windsor could be restored by Saturday. LaRossa said the estimates do not include any damages or setbacks due to today’s winter weather.

More than 500 customers in Hamilton and more than 600 customers in Hopewell Township are without power as of this morning, according to PSE&G.

Jersey Central Power and Light officials are also warning customers that the winter storm may cause new outages.

"We urge all our customers to prepare, just in case, and ask for their patience while we deal with the weather's next onslaught," said Don Lynch, president of JCP&L. "We have the largest contingent of linemen and forestry crews JCP&L has ever seen, as well as experienced professionals from many state and federal agencies. Together, we will finish the job of restoring power as soon as possible."

More than 600 Jersey Central Power and Light customers in the county are still without power. The majority of the company’s customers without power are in Hopewell where 479 outages are reported.